158 ANIMALS OF THE 



they seem kindly apprized by nature that during 

 the winter they shall not want any, so that they 

 make no preparations for food, though so dili- 

 gently employed in fitting up their abode. As 

 soon as they perceive the first approaches of the 

 winter, during which their vital motions are to 

 continue in some measure suspended, they labour 

 very diligently to close up the two entrances of 

 their habitation, which they effect with such soli- 

 dity, that it is easier to dig up the earth any 

 where else than where they have closed it. At 

 that time they are very fat, and some of them are 

 found to weigh above twenty pounds ; they con- 

 tinue so for even three months more ; but by 

 degrees their flesh begins to waste, and they are 

 usually very lean by the end of winter. When 

 their retreat is opened, the whole family is then 

 discovered, each rolled into a ball, and covered 

 up under the hay. In this state they seem en- 

 tirely lifeless ; they may be taken away, and even 

 killed, without their testifying any great pain ; 

 and those who find them in this manner, carry 

 them home, in order to breed up the young, and 

 eat the old ones. A gradual and gentle warmth 

 revives them ; but they would die if too suddenly 

 brought near the fire, or if their juices were too 

 quickly liquefied. 



Strictly speaking, says M. Buffon, these ani- 

 mals cannot be said to sleep during the winter ; 

 it may be called rather a torpor, a stagnation of 

 all the faculties.* This torpor is produced by 



* Buffon, vol. xvi. 



